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I couldn’t find the words to write yesterday on Rosie’s 26th birthday. I woke up fine but then as the day went on, it was all a bit up and down. We’ve not gone away this year, for various reasons, so Chris and I decided to go and be a bit touristy and went to an art gallery/museum. Rosie liked a good gallery. Poor Sylv is ill, but had to work. Cal was off doing something or other – it turned out he’d ripped his only pair of non-jeans trousers so had to go and buy a new pair.

She’d have been 26 years old. So strange to have a child that old, because 26 is proper grown up and adulty. I wonder how she’d have celebrated. Here she is, anyway :). Happy birthday, our beautiful girl.

In honour of Rosie’s birthday, TKOE is going to be making some donations again. We’re just waiting for a couple of Christmas donations to come through and then we’ll let you know who and what. It’s fabulous that people are still raising money through TKOE. We can’t thank you enough. It all goes to organisations that help friends and family of people who have cancer and other life limiting illnesses.

We’ve been wondering about keeping TKOE going or not – it’s a difficult decision to make. It won’t be finishing this year though because in the birthday gloom, a fundraising and getting fit plan has come together. Which makes sense, because on Feb 1st it will be 10 years since Rosie was diagnosed.

What we’re going to do, is join this and for every mile we walk, we’re going to put some money in a pot. Say 20p a mile but it could be less, it could be more. For TKOE. That would be £200 by the end of the year. And if the walk is particularly easy or hard, we might alter the amount we put in the pot. How fab is that??? And if you do it every day, it’s only 2.74 miles a day. Which is EASY.

And you can use any sort of pot and pay any sort of mileage. Here’s two pots which started today

So, who’s in? If you are, let us know as it would be brilliant to know who is doing it and raising money for TKOE. And if you’d like a TKOE t shirt, let us know and we’ll send you one :). For free. To say thank you.

Earl Mortimer College has always been a place in which both students and teachers actively try to help those outside of the College with the intention of demonstrating that the wider community and their needs are just as important as our own. Whether it be a Macmillan Coffee Morning, a Children In Need cake sale or a non-uniform “Feel Good Friday”, we always manage to dig deep and pull it out of the bag to raise vast amounts of money for amazing causes. This year alone, we have been able to raise thousands of pounds in order to help the sick, the vulnerable, the elderly, and many other groups in society, both at home and in faraway places, to get the all-important care and devotion to all of those who are not as lucky as ourselves. With the end of the academic year fast approaching, the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural group had one last, very hard decision to make before kicking off their SMSC boots for the summer… what was the last “feel good” fundraiser of the year going to be in aid of?

After careful research and deliberation, the group came across the story of local girl Rosie Kilburn, who sadly died of cancer, and decided that her organisation, The Knock on Effect, was the worthy cause they were looking for after being inspired by Rosie’s attitude and strength throughout the tribulations she had to face in her life. However, her story is not one of doom and gloom as you may be thinking. Rosie was a fighter, determined to not only combat her illness, but to help others deal with cancer and its effects in the process. She was definitely not a victim of her disease, and she wanted to get rid of the horrid taboo surrounding ‘the big C’ and rather concentrate on the bigger picture; what people could do to help.

Rosie’s mother, Jo Davidson, was our guest speaker at the 2014 Annual Academic Awards evening earlier in the year and shared precious memories of her daughter with many of our students and their families during her speech. This has given us a real insight into the kind of person Rosie was and as a result, many students possess the same admiration for Rosie as the SMSC team do already!

After losing her battle to the disease, The Knock on Effect lives on as an independent organisation in dedication to Rosie and her efforts. It continues to deliver the help others may need to come to terms with their illnesses and encourage progression, rather than ignoring the problem and locking themselves away from the outside world. The Knock on Effect acts on Rosie’s behalf to organise fundraisers to carry on her work, and EMC are proud to say that we are able to take part in fundraising for The Knock on Effect on Friday 11th July.

Students will focus on the wide theme of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural aspects of America and all lessons will be tailored according to this. Cakes will be available to purchase during breaktime and lunchtime on the Friday and there will be an all-American themed lunch in the canteen to accompany this. Furthermore, students can enjoy a round of Extreme Golf on the field, participation will be encouraged and all proceeds will go to The Knock on Effect.

Naturally, there is a US-themed clothing policy that will be enforced for one day only; EMC students have been asked to take advantage of this and dress to impress in all their American themed finery!

External competitions, such a designing a logo or art piece to be used by The Knock on Effect, will be running in conjunction with events at College. The best entries will be shortlisted, and given to Rosie’s organisation to be used on merchandise, such as T-shirts and mugs. They will also be used to auction off later in the year in a bid to raise even more money and enable The Knock on Effect to carry on the terrific work they do.

The SMSC group have high hopes for the drop down day, and are urging all students to get behind it to make Friday 11th a massive success and raise awareness for this local organisation. When I asked Miss Anderson (who is head of the SMSC group) about this day she said:

“I am really excited about this. The students will get to experience exciting lessons and learn about a different culture. It is also a fantastic opportunity for them to engage with each other and strengthen the bonds here at EMC. I am really proud that so many students have thought about why we are doing this and the impact it will have on helping others. The students really took to Rosie’s story and were inspired by her determination and humble nature. This day is about celebrating her achievements and pushing others to break the taboo surrounding illnesses such as cancer. Days like this encourage community spirit and that is something that this College is full of!”

I was really excited when Miss Anderson asked me to write this blog! I hope that by seeing what we have done here at EMC other colleges will be encouraged to fundraise more and help their local organisations help the community. BE INSPIRED, I was!

See the Robert Young Duffy Allan in the middle there? Well he’s my cousin in law and long time TKOE supporter. Here he is:

Now, i have to point out, those are not his hands. He had perfectly ordinary arms and hands last time I saw him 🙂

Very, very well deserved and very exciting. 🙂

Thank you too to everyone who is knitting. Remember, red wool only. That’s how I’m spending New Year. That, and counting up so we can announce TKOE donations on Rosie’s birthday on Friday. And that will be very exciting too. 🙂 :). Jo xx

His days at the moment are a whirl of cooking, housekeeping at the hotel (his specialist subject), cleaning, increasingly independent bus trips and parties. He seems to have a birthday to celebrate every few days. Combine that with Halloween, Bonfire Night and Christmas discos and you realise Cal is having a perfect autumn.

His texts remain random.

We had a brilliant night out at the pub with old friends we’ve not seen for ages last night. Beer, food and lots of laughing. Just the thing for dark nights.

Thank you for the tea towel voting. They are now in the next stage of production and will be ready for Christmas presents very soon. And we’ve had a rush on hoodies and only have four left! People’s kindness continues day in day out – completely out of the blue TKOE has received £400 from Scottish Bert’s 70th birthday. Thank you so much for thinking of TKOE. and Newent School have made a donation of £290 too, which was also a lovely surprise 🙂 🙂

Now, the TKOE web domain name needs renewing again. Long term followers will know we had to continue TKOE because Rosie renewed the name the day before she died. Shall we, shan’t we …..well, it doesn’t require much thinking about. Yes, we are going to continue with The Knock on Effect. We’re thinking about the focus for next year too. . .:)

Hello. Long time no post. Last week passed in a work blur and then The Weekend passed in a dog walking, gardening, harvesting, jam making, crumble forming, speed awareness coursing, Sunday roast cooking and eating blur.

Eh? What did you say? Oh, yes, the speed awareness course. Yes, it was me doing 37 in a 30 zone, slowing down after the 30 sign, not before. And a very informative course it was too. In fact, it did make me wonder why we don’t have refresher courses every 10 years or so.

That’s not really why I’m posting though. Rosie’s friend Georgia and her brother Huw, broke their Record for Rosie by doing 12 miles over an assault course in Wales called Toughmudder. The event, not the place that is. And raised lots of lovely money for Macmillan, in memory of Rosie.

Everyone is talking about it, aren’t they. The heat. It’s fab. It’s like being on holiday. The thunderstorms will be immense when they come.

Another dilemma this week. When I meet someone new, and they ask me how many children I have, the answer of course is 3. And then comes the tricky bit – how old are they? Because once you go down that path inevitably there’s going to have to be a bit of an explanation. And last week it just felt so unfair on the poor person who asked me because they then were so sorry. I am never going to say I have 2 children. But I don’t yet have an elegant way of responding to further questions. Dear me. 😦

The question is, how much can the TKOE puppy fund raise? As she is high in the cute stakes the most phenomenal number of people stop to stroke her. We counted about 40 people over the weekend, ranging from 2 to about 90 years old. Perhaps we should charge a charity donation for strokes. Or enter her for cutest puppy dog shows and pay any prizes to TKOE. Perhaps.

Oooohh! I have just very bravely downloaded a new blog app for my iPad and I am posting this blog using it. Which is a bit scary because I don’t really understand the Internet and iPads and apps. So, as I am doing this, one part of my brain is imagining I am doing untold damage to the TKOE blog account.

I have a very nice photo to post too, but I’m not sure how to do that. Let’s see – do I press this button? Continue reading →